Alexa Zepp Discusses Derby Favorites & Bob Baffert's Return

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00:00Alexa Zepp is with Daily Racing Forum, and she's here today to talk about the derby.

00:05You can follow her at Alexa underscore Zepp.

00:07What a great name.

00:08All I think about is Led Zeppelin when I think of your name.

00:11I think it's fantastic.

00:13I'm excited to have you on the show.

00:15I want to start with this.

00:16Bob Baffert is back between the spires, finally, at Churchill Downs after being suspended.

00:25And what has he got, three horses in this thing?

00:26Because I'm used to NBC spending eight hours every year talking about Bob Baffert at the Kentucky Derby and no one else.

00:36Yeah, he's back.

00:38He served his sentence, you know, three years out of it.

00:41And he's back with a vengeance with a couple good ones in here.

00:44Not my top picks, actually, though.

00:47I've landed on journalism, and I really hate picking the favorite who is going to be the favorite.

00:52But I just think this horse is so good.

00:55So buyer speed figures are, like, our standard of measuring speed in horse racing.

01:00And he ran a 108 last year.

01:02To put that in perspective, the last 11 derby winners have not run that figure.

01:06The fastest winning derby figure was a 105.

01:09So he's really fast.

01:10He's got a good running style.

01:12Like all derbies, this race is going to have, like, a ton of speed in it.

01:16So he's got kind of like a mid-pack, closing, running style.

01:20And I think it's just going to set up really, really nicely for him.

01:24He has been running in small fields, though.

01:27He's been running in, like, five- and six-horse fields.

01:28So you can maybe throw some shade at him that way and look at some other ones in here.

01:34But he's beat a lot of the really other strong contenders in here already.

01:39So I'm just really impressed with him.

01:41I'm going to use him.

01:42I'm not going to single him, though.

01:43I'll throw some others in there.

01:44I like Sandman a lot.

01:46Sandman's the number 17.

01:47So that's, like, the dreaded post position.

01:49It's the only post position that has never won the derby.

01:52This is the 151st running.

01:54So you could hear the groans.

01:57But Jose Ortiz is a badass.

01:59I think he's a great jock.

02:02And I've got to ask you about Rispoli.

02:05Does he have the stones to pull this off and win with this journalism?

02:09I know journalism's won four straight races.

02:12And can McCarthy and Rispoli do this?

02:14We know what Ortiz is capable of.

02:17Yeah.

02:18I mean, Umberto's, like, one of the best out there, I think.

02:20So I think he definitely has it.

02:23But you're right.

02:24I mean, Sandman's got good connections.

02:25These are all the best connections, right?

02:27Everybody's fighting to be in this race.

02:29So from a connection standpoint, yeah.

02:31I mean, Sandman looks really good.

02:33He, I have been in love with this horse since his performance in January in the Southwest.

02:38So the horse, like, went to his knees at the break almost.

02:43And you were like, oh, my God, is the horse okay?

02:46And then not only was he okay, he, like, came and closing like crazy at the end.

02:51He ended up losing by a couple of lengths.

02:54But showing that kind of grit is a huge deal in a race.

02:58Because the Derby is a race you're never going to get your way.

03:01It's never going to set up perfectly exactly how you want it.

03:03So I like seeing that from a horse ahead of time that, you know, he can handle it.

03:08And then he won the Arkansas Derby last out really convincingly.

03:11He is 0 for 3 at Churchill, which is, you know, a bummer.

03:15But those were a lot earlier in his career.

03:17So I really like, like, Simon quite a bit.

03:20There's also the 7 Luxor Cafe, who's a Japanese.

03:24That's a Japanese horse, right?

03:25Is that not the horse that races in the Far East?

03:28And he's won a bunch of races as well, like four in a row over there.

03:32Four in a row, two of them by five lengths.

03:36He's been favored in all six of his races he's ever run.

03:40And the Japanese contingent gets stronger and stronger every year.

03:43Last year, you probably could say they had the best horse, Forever Young,

03:46who found some trouble late in the stretch and lost by a nose.

03:50But he's looking really good.

03:52All of his running lines, which just give you a little feeling of how the horse

03:55acts throughout the race, just say, like, he takes command.

03:59So I like seeing that.

04:01And then I have to comment on the number 21, Baeza.

04:05So not yet in the Derby is the one alternate entry.

04:08So if one horse scratches, he'll get in.

04:10And I just really want this horse to get in.

04:13I think it's a good story.

04:15First of all, he's very talented, but also a really good story

04:17because his mom is the mom of the 2023 Kentucky Derby Winter Mage

04:22and then also the mom of 2024 Contender Doorknock,

04:26owned by MLB star Jason Wirth,

04:28and then won the Belmont, so the third leg of the Triple Crown.

04:31That's right.

04:32I interviewed him at the Super Bowl after he won the Belmont.

04:36That's fantastic that he's into horse racing now.

04:40I think it's great.

04:41He's been another derby runner.

04:44Real quick, 20 seconds.

04:45How many of these derbies have you been to?

04:46I've been to it.

04:47I think it's the greatest thing to go to.

04:49It's so much fun.

04:50This will actually be my third year going.

04:52It's just a total blast.

04:54I recommend everybody at some point get there in your lifetime.

04:57It's so much fun.

04:58I mean, I just had so much fun there.

05:00Everything about it, the people's clothes,

05:03everybody drinking booze, gambling on the ponies.

05:06It's just a fantastic day at Churchill Downs.

05:08Alexa, thank you.

05:09Great job.

05:10Enjoy yourself.

05:11Have fun in Louisville.

05:11First, enjoy myself.

05:16Merry Christmas.

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